Fighting Belly Fat

Low-carbohydrate diets may have benefits beyond weight loss. For eight weeks of a regimen designed to achieve weight maintenance, and then eight weeks of a weight-loss plan, overweight subjects were assigned to a diet containing either 43 percent carbohydrates or 55 percent carbohydrates (and less fat). During the maintenance phase, the lower-carb group lost more belly fat than the other participants, and they lost more total body fat during weight loss. Carbohydrates raise blood insulin levels, and insulin impairs fat burning, explains Barbara Gower, professor of nutrition sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In a different study of mice predisposed to breast cancer, those fed a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet (15 percent carbohydrates) were half as likely to develop tumors as mice fed a standard diet (55 percent carbohydrates). Cancer cells need more sugar than normal cells do, explains Gerald Krystal, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He recommends avoiding foods that are quickly broken down into glucose, including soda, fruit juice, white bread, white rice, and potatoes.